Power, Madness and Immortality

April 12, 2009

Author:

Mychilo Cline

Publisher:

University Village Press (2005)

There has been increasing interest in the potential social impact of new technologies, such as virtual reality (as may be seen in utopian literature, within the social sciences, and in popular culture). Mychilo S. Cline, in his book, Power, Madness, and Immortality: The Future of Virtual Reality, argues that virtual reality will lead to a number of important changes in human life and activity. He argues that:

* Virtual reality will be integrated into daily life and activity and will be used in various human ways.

* Techniques will be developed to influence human behavior, interpersonal communication, and cognition (i.e., virtual genetics).

* As we spend more and more time in virtual space, there will be a gradual “migration to virtual space,” resulting in important changes in economics, worldview, and culture.

* The design of virtual environments may be used to extend basic human rights into virtual space, to promote human freedom and well-being, and to promote social stability as we move from one stage in socio-political development to the next.

In Power, Madness and Immortality, Mychilo Cline argues that Virtual Reality will be the defining technology of the next century, if not the next millennium, and with it will come significant social and economic change.

Power, Madness and Immortality is mandatory reading for anyone interested in the social and philosophical impact of virtual reality, the design of virtual worlds, or in the future of humankind.